On pro basketball.

Ewing's Price High, But Knicks May Have To Meet It

January 22, 1997|By Sam Smith.

Pretend you're the New York Knicks.

No, you don't have to pretend you live in New York. That would be too cruel.

But pretend you are the big money guys who run the Knicks and you owe Allan Houston $56 million and Larry Johnson another $78 million. Now your 34-year-old center, whose knees look like he lost a knife fight, is a free agent and he's talking about four more years at $15 million.

Per year!

"I'm not even worried about next year," says Ewing, who renewed his rivalry with the Bulls here Tuesday and left disappointed again after getting 19 points and 14 rebounds, "They played a great game. Michael hit some big shots. The bottom line is we didn't get the win, but hopefully next time we'll get it done. We have to continue to improve and we'll see the next time we play them. Dennis (Rodman) is a big part of their team, but they're a good team without him. We came back, but we want to win."

And then Ewing huddled with his agent, David Falk, in the locker room.

Ewing is a free agent after this season, and while there's no question he has been a basketball version of a warrior, a credit to the game and one of the top players of his era, he never has taken his team to a title.

Is there any reason to believe he will now with his skills in decline?

Ewing's overall statistics are comparable to his career numbers; he's averaging 21.3 points and 10.7 rebounds. But his shooting is less than 48 percent and last season was the first since his rookie year that it was that low.

He has had numerous knee operations that have limited his mobility and scouts say he doesn't seem to have the power to hold his post position as well as he once did.

"I've watched (Michael) Jordan's box scores and he has 10 for 25's and 10 for 29's," points out Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy. "I never read he's in decline."

But Jordan has been remarkably healthy his entire career. Not Ewing, who was having knee operations as a rookie.

"I've had a couple of knee surgeries, but I don't think anything out of the ordinary," says Ewing, who never complains about phsyical problems. "My body feels fine. I'm one of the lucky few players in the NBA."

What do the Knicks do?

They seem to have no choice other than to accept Ewing's demands.

It's hard to imagine in this era of inflated contracts (Allan Houston making $8 million per season and Alonzo Mourning $14 million) that Ewing isn't going to want at least as much as Mourning.

The problem for the Knicks is they have to remain competitive for a title, but moreso to keep TV ratings up and sell some of the most expensive seats in sports at Madison Square Garden, $1,000 per game courtside.

The Knicks set out to do that this season by signing Houston and trading for Larry Johnson. But with long-term contracts for both, along with deals for Chris Childs, John Starks and Buck Williams, the Knicks won't be able to get below the salary cap for the rest of the decade.

Even if they didn't have Ewing, they still wouldn't be able to sign a free agent unless they were able to trade a high-salaried player such as Johnson or Houston, and few teams could take on such salaries.

The Knicks have the advantage of deep pockets because corporate giant ITT owns them. But that doesn't make any difference when there's a salary cap. It just means they can take on contracts such as Johnson's, which makes him unaffordable to most teams.

So the Knicks have no option but to re-sign Ewing and present at least the hope, if not the reality, of being a contender for the title.

They're not a contender because Ewing needs to be the best player on his team. Don Nelson pointed this out last season and got himself fired for doing so.

But he was right.

And Ewing still is the best player.

Even if the Knicks decide to meet Ewing's price, it's possible Ewing may decide there's more to life than money, and New York.

Ewing was booed vociferously earlier this season and lashed back at the fans, who booed him again for condemning them.

So maybe Ewing, who earns "just" $3 million this season but made $18.7 million last season, will decide he has enough to live on.

Then he'll go where he can play with an All-Star, something it doesn't look like he'll ever do with the team the Knicks have put together. Teams such as Cleveland with Terrell Brandon, Phoenix with Jason Kidd and Detroit with Grant Hill will be substantially under the salary cap after this season. They could put together big deals for Ewing, although not approaching what the Knicks could pay him. But for them Ewing would be playing with an All-Star, perhaps two. Maybe, finally, he could get himself a championship.

That's something New York money doesn't look like it's going to be able to buy.